By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - Second seed Arlington seized control with a 15-4 second quarter and went on to defeat Bluffton 50-41 in girls Div. IV sectional final action Saturday night at Bluffton University.
The loss ended the Lady Pirate season with a 14-9 overall record, while Arlington improved to 18-5 with the win.
The Lady Red Devils advance to the district semifinals Feb. 27 at Ottawa-Glandorf against third seed Kalida (17-7). Northwest Conference champion and top seed Columbus Grove (19-3) plays seventh seed Delphos St. John's in the other O-G district semifinal.
Fifth-seeded Bluffton held an 11-9 edge after the opening stanza. But Arlington grabbed a 24-15 lead at halftime with the momentum-changing 15-4 second period.
The Red Devils maintained a 33-23 cushion heading to the final period of play. Bluffton tallied 18 points in the fourth quarter, but could only close the final gap by a point and fell by nine.
The Pirate girls were outscored 19 to five at the charity stripe.
Senior post Libby Schaadt led the Pirates with 19 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in her last game. Junior Laykin Garmatter added 10 markers.
Arlington was paced by Haley Essinger with 18 points and eight boards. Lindsay Dodds contributed 15 points.
The Bluffton girls converted just a costly five of 14 from the charity stripe (36 percent).
Arlington sank 15 of 40 field goal tries (38 percent), including 14 two-pointers and one triple. The Red Devils converted 19 of 28 shots from the foul line (68 percent).
After a strong 12-4 start to the season, Bluffton ran into stiff competition down the final stretch. The Pirates lost their last three games and five of their last seven.
1 2 3 4 F
Arl 9 15 9 17 50
Bluf 11 4 8 18 41
